- July 18
- The Convention on the Future of Europe finishes its work and proposes the first European Constitution. [24]
- The body of David Kelly, a scientist at the British Ministry of Defence, is found a few miles from his home, leading to the Hutton inquiry. [24] (July 17 [1270.267])
- July 22
- Uday and Qusay Hussein, sons of Saddam Hussein, are killed by the U.S. military in Iraq, after being tipped off by an informant. [24]
- July 23
- Operation Warrior Sweep is the first major military deployment of the Afghan National Army. [24]
- July 24
- The Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, Operation Helpem Fren, led by Australia, begins. [24]
- July 27
- The Greek-registered MV Tasman Spirit oil tanker runs aground off Pakistan's Arabian Sea port Karachi, later splitting in two and dumping most of its cargo of 11 million litres of oil. [522]
- August 1
- A suicide bomber rams a truck filled with explosives into a military hospital near Chechnya, killing 50 people, including Russian troops wounded in Chechnya. [24]
- August 2
- The United Nations authorizes an international peacekeeping force for Liberia. [24]
- August 10
- The United Kingdom reaches a record-high temperature, the first time breaking 38.5 degrees C (101.3 degrees Fahrenheit), at Brogdale near Faversham in Kent. [5] [24]
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- August 11
- NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in its 54-year-history. [24]
- Jemaah Islamiah leader Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, is arrested in Bangkok, Thailand. [24]
- A heat wave in Paris causes temperatures up to 44 degrees C (112 degrees F). [24]
- August 14
- A widescale power blackout affects the northeast United States and Canada. [5]
- A 6.4 Richter scale earthquake occurs near the Greek Ionian island of Lefkada; 24 are injured. [24]
- US intelligence officer Captain William Ponce contacts fellow officers in Iraq, informing them that a colonel has indicated prisoners need to be "broken", to gather information to prevent further attacks on American soldiers. [46.443]
- August
- In the Asukaike Ruins in village Asuka, Nara Prefecture of Japan, 33 bronze coins are unearthed. They date to 694, making them the oldest known Japanese coins. [344.10]
- Bowers and Merena auctions the Adams-Carter specimen of the Class III 1804 Draped Bust dollar for US$1,207,500. [488.18]
- August 16
- The 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire spreads quickly on the outskirts of Kelowna, British Columbia, threatening to engulf the largest town in B.C.'s interior. [24]
- August 22
- A rocket explosion kills 21 at the Brazilian rocket complex in Alcântara, Brazil, due to the premature ignition of a solid rocket booster. [24]
- August 25
- Two bomb blasts in Mumbai, India kill 52. [24]
- August 27
- Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in over 50,000 years. [24]
- August 28
- In the USA, Brian Douglas Wells wears a time bomb explosive fastened to his neck, and dies. The event stands out as the most bizarre event in the history of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. [24]
- August 31
- US Warden of Guantánamo Bay prison Major General Geoffrey Miller arrives at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, to instruct on techniques of interrogation used at his prison. [46.443]
- September 3
- Hubble Space Telescope starts Hubble Ultra Deep Field. [24]
- September 4
- Europe's largest shopping centre, the Bullring in Birmingham, is officially opened by Sir Albert Bore. [24]
- September 10
- Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh is stabbed several times while shopping in Stockholm. She dies the following morning of heart and lung failure. (Mijailo Mijailovic is convicted of murder, and sentenced to life in prison.) [7]
- Estonia approves joining the European Union in a referendum. [24]
- September 14
- In Sweden, a Nationwide referendum is held asking citizens if the country should join the European Monetary Union, and abandon the krona currency in favor of the euro. The vote is 56.1 percent no, 41.8 percent yes. [7]
- Top American commander in Iraq Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez authorizes a wide range of new interrogation procedures, including deliberate humiliation, exploiting fear of dogs, sensory deprivation, sensory overload, and stress positions. [46.443]
- September 15
- The ELN kidnaps eight foreign tourists in the Ciudad Perdida in Colombia; they demand a human rights investigation and release the last hostages three months later. [24]
- September 16
- Two suicide bombers drive an explosive-filled truck into a government security services building near Chechnya, killing three and injuring 25. [24]
- September 18
- Hurricane Isabel makes landfall as a Category 2 Hurricane on North Carolina's Outer Banks. It will directly kill 16 people in the Mid-Atlantic area. [24]
- September 21
- Galileo mission is terminated by sending the probe into Jupiter's atmosphere, where it is crushed by the pressure at the lower altitudes. [5]
- September 25
- In Hokkaido, Japan, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake occurs, the world's largest earthquake of 2003. At least 589 people injured, many roads damaged, landslides and power outages in southeastern Hokkaido. A tsunami is generated with an estimated wave height of 4m along the southeastern coast of Hokkaido. [53]
- September 27
- In French Guiana, the European Space Agency launches its first space probe to the Moon, the SMART-1 on an Arian 5 rocket. [24] [524.45]
- September 28
- A power failure affects all of Italy except Sardinia, cutting service to more than 56 million people. [24]
- September 29
- Hurricane Juan lands at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada as a category two storm, killing two directly and five indirectly. [24]
- October 5
- Israeli warplanes strike inside Syrian territory. [24]
- October 9
- The Mission: Space attraction opens in Epcot at Walt Disney World in Florida. The attraction cost US$150 million to build. [6]
- October 10
- Facing an investigation surrounding allegations of illegal drug use, American right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh publicly admits that he is addicted to prescription pain killers, and will seek treatment. [24]
- October 12
- American author Susan Sontag is presented the Peace Prize of the Frankfurt Book Fair. [37]
- October 15
- China launches Shenzhou 5, their first manned space mission. [24]
- The 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash kills 11 after one of its ferries slams into a pier. [24]
- October 17
- The pinnacle is fitted on the roof of Taipei 101, a 101-floor skyscraper in Taipei, allowing it to surpass the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur by 50 metres (165 feet) and become the World's tallest highrise. [5]
- October 24
- The Concorde makes its last commercial flight, bringing the era of airliner supersonic travel to a close. [24]
- October 25
- The Cedar Fire begins in San Diego County, burning 280,000 acres (1,100 square km), 2,232 homes and killing 14. [24]
- October 31
- Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia after 22 years in power. [24]
- November 5
- Gary Ridgway, the "Green River Killer", confesses to murdering 48 women. [24]
- November 9
- A lunar eclipse is seen in the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Central Asia. [24]
- November 12
- In Nasiriya, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base. [24]
- November 15
- Two car bombs explode simultaneously in Istanbul, Turkey, targeting two synagogues, killing at least 25 people and wounding more than 300; Al-Qaida claims responsibility. [24]
- November
- Dallas Abbott and her team announce they had found where a comet crashed in 1430, between Campbell Island and New Zealand South Island. [521]
- November 17
- Spink and Pascal Behr Philatelie sells at auction a block of four France 1849 1-franc Ceres stamps, unused, for $1,068,450, a record for a French philatelic item. [798.3]
- November 18
- The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, in Goodridge versus Department of Public Health, rules anti-same-sex marriage laws unconstitutional in the state. [24]
- November 19
- At the end of a long public inquiry, Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, John Prescott, gives planning approval to London Bridge Tower, set to become the tallest building in Europe. [24]
- November 20
- Several bombs explode in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC and the British consulate. [24]
- Entertainer Michael Jackson is arrested by police on charges of child molestation. [24]
- November 23
- The Georgian Rose Revolution ends with overwhelming victory - president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over fraudulent elections. [24]
- A total solar eclipse is seen over Antarctica. [24]
- November 24
- The High Court in Glasgow imposes a minimum sentence of 27 years for Al Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, the Libyan convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. [24]
- November 28
- Kalev Ots succeeds to the presidency of the pre-WW II Republic of Estonia in exile, after the death of Mihkel Mathiesen. [24]
- December 1
- The use of hand-held cell phones while driving is made illegal in the United Kingdom. [24]
- Boeing chairman and CEO Phil Condit resigns unexpectedly. He is replaced by Lewis Platt as non-executive chairman and Harry Stonecipher as president and CEO. [24]
- December 5
- A suicide bombing on a commuter train in southern Russia kills 44 people. President Vladimir Putin condemns the attack as a bid to destabilize the country two days before parliamentary elections. [24]
- December 7
- Parliamentary elections are held in Russia. [24]
- The new Government in Exile of the pre-World War II Republic of Estonia, headed by Ahti Mänd, assumes office. [24]
- December 9
- A female suicide bomber blows herself up outside Moscow's National Hotel, across from the Kremlin and Red Square, killing five bystanders. [24]
- December 12
- Paul Martin becomes the 21st Prime Minister of Canada. [24]
- Olympic Airlines, Greece's new flag carrier, is launched. [24]
- Saddam Hussein, former President of Iraq, is captured in Tikrit by the U.S. 4th Infantry Division. [24]
- December 16
- The United Kingdom announces plans to build a new runway at Stansted Airport in Essex and a short-haul runway at Heathrow Airport, sparking anger from environmental groups. [24]
- December 17
- New Line releases the film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King to theaters. (Total world gross ticket sales: $1.1 billion (1st for 2003).) [932]
- December 20
- Libya admits to building a nuclear bomb. [24]
- December 22
- An earthquake shakes up California, killing two people. [24]
- Parmalat is first accused of falsifying accounts in the amount of $5 billion, later admitted by founder Calisto Tanzi; observers call it "Europe's Enron". [24]
- December 24
- A BSE (mad cow disease) outbreak in Washington State is announced. Several countries including Brazil, Australia and Taiwan ban the import of beef from the United States of America. [24]
- At the request of the U.S. Embassy in Paris, the French Government orders Air France to cancel several flights between France and the U.S. in response to terrorist concerns. [24]
- The Spanish police thwart an attempt by ETA to detonate 50kg of explosives at 3:55 p.m. on Christmas Eve inside Madrid's busy Chamartín Station. [24]
- December 25
- Beagle 2 is scheduled to land on Mars, but nothing is heard from the lander. [24]
- President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan escapes the second assassination attempt in two weeks. [24]
- December 26
- In Southeastern Iran, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake occurs, the deadliest earthquake in 2003, likely the largest earthquake in this area in 2000 years. About 31,000 people killed, 30,000 injured, 75,600 homeless and 85 percent of buildings damaged or destroyed in the Bam area. [24] [53]
- December 29
- Death of Archbishop Michael Courtney in a hail of bullets as his car is ambushed in Burundi. [100.58]
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